Top 13 Revealed - 3/1/12

Our show tonight is starting out with repeat scenes, comments from some of the contestants and the burning question "who will make it to the top 13".

Before we can get to the results we welcome our judges and Ryan to the stage. Behind Ryan sit the top 24 waiting anxiously for the results. Seems over the two nights over 33 million votes were cast. Not a great start from the voters on this season but have a feeling this will improve over the next few weeks.

After the break we see the top 10 chairs and hear that Jimmy Iovine will give comments on each person after we see a repeat of their performances leading up to this special night. Here goes:

Chase Likens, Phil Phillips and Jeremy Rosado are first to find out their results. Jimmy's take:

Chase is good-looking, but not fresh and exciting as he needs to be. He does not make top 10.

Phil Phillips is very original and he would sign him today. Phil is in the top 10. Yea!

Jeremy Rosado has a great voice and is a nice guy but Jimmy was not too impressed with him overall. He is not in the top 10.

Elise has lots of character to her voice. She takes the final spot of the top 10 girls. Yea!

Erika Van Pelt is likeable but needs to get it together more. She is out.

Haley was out of tune and robotic on her number. She is out.

Jen has a nice voice but is miles away from being an Adele. She is out.

Last of the guys are DeAndre Brackensick, Eben Franckewitz, Jermaine Jones and Colton Dixon. Jimmy's take:

DeAndre has potential but not ready yet. He is out.

Eben is talented but he too is not ready for primetime. He is out.

Jermaine is a great baritone and Jimmy is rooting for him. He makes the top 10. Yea!

Colton is really talented but needs to pace himself. He makes the top 10 also.

Now come the wild card slots as each of the next contestants need to sing for their lives. Let me say here I was not happy with the judges decisions at all.

Up first is Jen Hirsh who over-sings the song "Oh Darling" by The Gibb Brothers. She does have a voice but was trying to hard I think. Randy calls it a good performance, JLo says she sang for her life and Steven says she took it home.

Jeremy Rosado sings a Carrie Underwood song but I did not recognize it. I honestly thought this was terrible but JLo believes in him. Randy likes his big heart and loves it. Steven feels he is so real and loves his passion.

Brielle Von Hugel starts out too low and then growls out the lyrics to Adele's "Someone Like You". Like Steven I thought it was pitchy. Randy says wasn't great. Jennifer saw her passion.

DeAndre Brackensick is doing "Georgia" by Ray Charles. He did not start on cue with the music and frankly I do not like all those vocal gymnastics. Randy says nice way to fight for a spot. Jennifer felt the fire from him (huh?). Steven likes his dynamic range.

Erika Van Pelt is very emotional and overly dramatic with her renditon of "Edge of Glory" by Lady GaGa. Steven says his stock answer of beautiful and thinks she blew it out of the park. Jennifer appreciates how she can sing through her tears. Randy really liked it.

Reed Grimm does a very theatrical version to the song "Use Me" by Bill Withers. Randy calls him a unique and different artist. Jennifer felt he deserved another chance to show his stuff. Steven loves the artist in Reed.

These are the wild card picks; Erika Van Pelt (I agreed with this one), Jeremy Rosado and DeAndre Brackensick. Sorry I really thought Reed Grimm was the best of the guys. Also I was totally ticked off that they did not consider Creighton Fraker, Adam Brock and Hallie Day as possible wild card picks.

Well now we have our top 13. I like most of the guy choices except for the wild card picks and Colton Dixon who I could live without. As for the girls I would say Skylar Laine, Hollie Cavanagh, Jessica Sanchez and Elise Testone are my top picks at this point.

Next week Mary J. Bligh will be the mentor. The guys will sing the songs of Stevie Wonder and the girls are doing Whitney Houston. Should be interesting to see who measures up.

That's a wrap for this week and as always I welcome your comments. Have a great week ahead!

Over all I am somewhat pleased with the top 13 picks for this season. There are a couple that surprised me. Not for lack of talented voices but I feel they are not really "star" quality performers. I agree with you Crystal. I think Creighton Fraker and Hallie Day should have been considered. I guess that's the difference in opinion between me and the judges. Or America for that matter. Although I do like his deep baritone I don't feel Jermaine should have made the top ten. Again...it's that difference in opinion. Otherwise, I guess I'm OK with most of the choices made to the group. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone does next week now that America has full control on the voting. See ya then.